HIGHKEY CRAVING
HighKey Craving
HighKey Sugar Panda
HighKey Romantic
HighKey Adorable
Project:
HighKey Sugar Panda
You remember that buddy you had back in your college days that, although great to party with, always seemed to push you to make some of the worst decisions in your life? The one that as you moved on to start a family or pursue a career, they seemed to keep with their same old habits and perpetuate their party ways? Well, meet Sugar Panda, the sugar-addicted Ailuropoda. We are fortunate to work with Ryan Reynolds and the talented team at Maximum Effort to bring to life Sugar Panda, the sugar-pounding anti-mascot for HighKey, the company offering delicious cookies as an alternative to sugary snacks.
Character Development
Sugar Panda started off as the typical product mascot skewing on the side of cute albeit a bit emaciated. During our character development, Sugar Panda's visual look quickly evolved and proceeded in a more extreme direction. Eventually, we pulled him back into the light, although not without the effects of his sugar addiction as his appearance teeters between lovable and disgusting.
Modeling
Storyboards
The Shoot
We were on hand during the live-action shoot acting as the animation and visual effects advisor for Maximum Effort's talented director/DP, Bryan Rowland.
Character Rig
From the beginning, we wanted Sugar Panda to have a more traditional animated look like the classic cereal mascots of the '80s and '90s. To successfully capture Sugar Panda's cartoonish persona, we needed him to squash and stretch, requiring a complex character rig.
